NUTMEG BEGINS IN MARCH
AMBER LOVE 27-JAN-2015 I’m not surprised Action Lab Entertainment found the right book to add to their catalog. From what I understand, Action Lab’s Jeremy Whitley discovered NUTMEG and the artist Jackie Crofts through the Kickstarter campaign that funded the comic. Whitley was so taken with the story and the art that he recommended it personally to the rest of the executive staff at Action Lab. They jokingly call the story a mix of MEAN GIRLS meets BREAKING BAD – there’s even a great BREAKING BAD parody pinup in the back of issue 1. I don’t suspect there will be such graphic adult content as cooking meth and killing people ala Vince Gilligan style, but the girls in NUTMEG are serious business.
Cassia is a new student in the posh private school Mason Montgomery. She is immediately befriended by Poppy and also as quickly labeled the enemy of Queen Bee, Saffron. Issue one explains how the friendship came together. The story, which will continue over the volume, is about the “Lady Rangers” brownie sale. As luck would have it, Cassia’s grandmother, Mary Rose is a professional baker and owner of The Sweet Shop patisserie. Cassia and Poppy are out for revenge on Saffron. This shows that even nice girls have deep feelings of resentment and some are bold enough to act upon that. The characters are flawed appropriately for their ages. The girls are showing strength and support to each other throughout the issue. The only criticism I have about the truly gorgeous artwork is that there’s no ethnic diversity to the cast. I know it’s a “rich kids’ private school” environment, but I would still like to see some kids of Indian, Asian and/or African-American ethnicity in the mix of “nice” kids and “bratty” kids. NUTMEG’s first issue definitely gives me confidence in recommending it to everyone and I look forward to the the fables that will support the plot structure. HERO CATS, one of my all-time favorite comics, is also by Action Lab and does this sort of “lessons learned” storytelling with ease. NUTMEG is bound to be as endearing.
NUTMEG #1
Writer(s): James F. Wright
Artist Name(s): Jackie Crofts
Cover Artist(s): Jackie Crofts (main cover), Josh Eckert (variant cover)
Poppy Pepper just wants to survive junior high and avoid her rich rival, Saffron
Longfellow, and her brownie-baking minions, The Lady Rangers. But when mysterious new girl
Cassia Caraway arrives, she teams up with Poppy and together they plot to bring Saffron and
crew down. Variant cover by Josh Eckert, limited to 2000 copies!
32 pgs./ All Ages/ FC $3.99
NUTMEG #2
Writer(s): James F. Wright
Artist Name(s): Jackie Crofts
Cover Artist(s): Jackie Crofts (main cover), Josh Eckert (variant cover)
Fall, Part 2: “…And Everything Nice:†After some initial trepidation, Poppy takes her first step on
the dark side, deciding to go through with Cassia’s plan to sabotage rival Saffron’s Brownie Brawl
fundraiser—and Saffron’s chances with local heartthrob Bobby Benson—using some strategically-placed baked goods, and just a dash of malice.
32 pgs./ All Ages/ FC $3.99
Don’t forget, Action Lab is also distributing these great titles too:
ABOUT ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT- Formed in 2010 with the purpose of pooling their collective talents into a single, powerful entity, the members of Action Lab Entertainment have countless years in multimedia publishing, design, and business. Their first release, Fracture, was successfully funded through Kickstarter and since then they have continued their mission to produce high quality, genre-spanning entertainment. Since its formation, the accolades for A.L.E continue to build on a daily basis. Among its more popular titles are all ages material like the Eisner, Glyph, Shel Dorf Award nominated series PRINCELESS, NFL RUSHZONE (based on the Nickelodeon Television series), Jamal Igle’s MOLLY DANGER, Artist/ Writer Jeremy Dale’s hit series SKYWARD, and Gayle Middleton’s (My Little Pony, The Littlest Pet Shop) monstrously adorable VAMPLETS. Action Lab’s Mature Readers imprint ACTION LAB DANGER ZONE continues to push the envelope of comics entertainment with titles as varied as EHMM THEORY and Dan Mendoza’s over the top horror-comedy ZOMBIE TRAMP, THE FINAL PLAGUE and BO, PLUSHY GANGSTA.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.